Author: Laura Hager

August 15, 2017

It's finally happening! My first fashion post! I'm so excited to be bringing you this new series. I'm going to be regularly posting outfits from sustainable companies or thrift store finds to help inspire you to find better brands to buy clothes. Little sustainability tips will pop up in the posts as well! You can find more information about this series here.

This first outfit was so fun. I always have a terrible time finding shoes, because of my past bunion surgery. But when I was at Plato's Closet one day, I found these cute heels and they fit perfectly! They weren't a style I would normally try, but they fit so well I thought I would give them a shot.

After picking up the shoes, I teamed up with a lovely ethical boutique called Bead and Reel. They believe in beautiful fashion that empowers the women. Their shop is packing with great companies that are trying to make the world a better place. I love that they have curated this beautiful shop of ethical and sustainable companies that are making high quality products. I've partnered with Bead and Reel for this post to show you the Nova Wrap Dress. It's vegan and made of organic cotton! The dye pattern on this dress is stunning! And so comfortable! It happened to be really windy the day we were taking these pictures and the dress was so pretty when it waved in the wind.

I'm definitely not a person who is comfortable being in front of a camera, so these posts are getting me out of my comfort zone. But I'm just getting started and people have already started asking me about sustainable clothing! I'm excited to be sharing something I'm so passionate about with you. If you have any favorite sustainable companies, let me know about them in the comments! xo. Laura

August 02, 2017

I'm so excited to announce that I will be joining the Kelly Purkey Shop design team! I've always been a huge fan of Kelly's scrapbooking and products, so it's amazing to be a part of the team.

I have lots of ideas for scrapbooking and I'm excited to share more pages. If you have any scrapbooking questions or if you would like to see certain tips or videos, just leave a comment below and send me an email.

I'm going to be on a team with several other extremely talented women. You can find links to their sites below!

July 22, 2017

At the beginning of the year, I made a goal to only buy sustainably made and ethically produced clothing. Usually when I tell people about my goal, they respond with a question. What is sustainable clothing? I'm going to be diving deeper into the topic of sustainable clothing and sharing sustainable fashion posts with you, so I wanted to start off by explaining what sustainable clothing is and why it's important to me.

Please note: Talking about sustainability is tricky, because there are so many levels to finding sustainable solutions. It can also be very polarizing. My goal here is to just bring some awareness to sustainable fashion. The information I wrote for this post are just things I've learned while earning my bachelor degree in sustainability and my research as a sustainable fashion consumer. I kept this information short to give you a quick overview of these topics, but I will link to resources at the bottom of this post if you want to learn more.

So, what is sustainable clothing?

Sustainable clothing is fashion items that are produced with as little impact on the planet as possible. There are many elements that go into producing clothing: the fabric materials, the type of dyes, the amount of production pollution, the transportation of products, the factory employees, the amount of water used, etc. Sustainably made clothing is produced by finding ways to make all these elements less harmful for the planet. For example, using organic cotton over plastics like polyester can be more sustainable. A clothing manufacture in the United States (for me) is more sustainable than shipping the materials and the final product all around the world.

Next, what is ethically produced clothing?

This questions can be broken into two parts: people and animals.

Let's start with animals. Cruelty in fashion is something I recently discovered and that helped spark my passion for sustainable fashion. Clothing made from animals is not always done without cruelty. Things like wool, fur, down, and leather are all examples of this. For a long time, I thought wool was harmless, because they shave the wool to turn into clothing. But that's not always done with the way we might think. Often the sheep are held in poor conditions and are treated cruelly. Fur and leather obviously take this a step further. It seems like fur isn't much of an issue anymore as people don't normally wear heavy fur coats, but those cute, fuzzy ball purse accessories that are trendy right now are often made from fur.

Now, for the people. Many factories that produce clothing are known to have harsh conditions for the people working there. Employees work for extremely low wages without benefits. Some factories even employ child labor. There is so much that is wrong with the way many clothing factories treat employees and the conditions they are forced to work in. The buildings themselves are often in poor condition and there have been a number of garment factory explosions in recent years. This is not true for all companies, but a majority of clothing comes from factories with extremely poor working conditions.

Now that we know what it is, why is this important?

Fashion fast is the type of market we are currently living in. This includes stores like Forever 21 and H&M that produce low-quality, trendy items at a very quick rate. In my experience, items from these places only lasts for a single wear to a couple washes. They shrink, or get holes, or fade, or the seams rip. They just don't last. Or the trends fade out so quickly and then they are out of style. You could donate these types of items (if they are still in good condition), but often the people that are in need of clothing won't accept trendy items over practical ones. Also, donation centers experience such a huge amount of clothing; it's often more than they will ever be able to use. These issues produce an astronomical amount of waste.

Do you want to make a change? Here is what you can do to get started.

Creating a sustainable closet is such an easy way to make a HUGE difference for the planet!

Simply stop shopping at fast fashion stores, like Forever 21, H&M, Zara, Nike, Adidas, and Urban Outfitters. Sustainable clothing is one of the best examples of "voting with your dollar." Choose to purchase from better companies that are doing what they can to make this industry better. Supporting sustainable and ethical companies is a great way to improve the fashion industry.

You can find an ever-growing list of sustainable companies to buy from here.

You've probably heard the slogan, "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." This can be a great guideline to follow when looking for new clothes.

Reduce: Try only using what you already have. Can you switch up how you use an item? Can you make different combinations that you haven't thought of? Think differently about what you already own and reduce the amount that you are consuming.

Reuse: Buy pre-owned clothing. Thrift shops and pre-owned clothing stores can be a great way to find unique items. I have great luck with used jeans, because someone else has already broken them in. Plus, these places have incredible deals! You can also find used clothing on websites, like eBay, or apps, like Poshmark or Vinted. Swapping clothes with family and friends can be a fun way to update your wardrobe!

Recycle: Properly disposing of clothing that you no longer want is important. If it's in good condition, you can give it to a friend, sell it, or donate it. If it's in bad condition, try finding a place local that can recycle textiles. Often, they can turn clothing into insulation and shoes into track or playground material.

To recap, you can make a difference in your closet by buying from sustainable and ethical companies, wearing used clothing, and disposing of unwanted items properly.

Being educated about the topic is the first step in making a more sustainable closet. You can find resources for more information here:

Thank you for taking the time to read and learn about sustainable fashion. This topic is extremely interesting to me, so I love sharing what I can. I'm working on writing my new Sustainable Style series, so you'll see those posts coming soon!

If you have any favorite sustainable fashion companies that you'd love to see in the posts, just add them in the comments section below.

Please let me know If you have any questions about sustainable fashion! Also, I'm building a resource guide, so if you have any articles that you would like to recommend, please send them my way!

June 22, 2017

The last few days have been the hottest ones of the year. And, of course, our AC decided to break. In the craziness of dealing with the hot house and calling a repair company, I totally forgot to post about my recommendation this week!

My recommendation for you this week is a YouTube channel called Yoga with Adriene. I first heard about Yoga with Adriene from the Awesome with Alison podcast. Alison recommended it so highly that I googled it as soon as I was home. I tried the bedtime routine that Alison recommended it that first night and it was amazing! Grant even joined me and we had such a great time! I've done several more videos since then and I've loved every single one of them.

Adriene makes yoga easy, fun, and so special. If you haven't tried yoga before, if you're looking ways to make yoga easier at home, or you just want to try something new, check out her channel here. You can find more from Adriene here.

If you try it out, let me know what you think in the comments below! I want to know if you love it as much as I do. Do you have a favorite yoga routine or pose? Do you have any other YouTube channels that you watch regularly? I'd love some recommendations for other YouTube workouts! xo. Laura

Also, I don't have a lot on YouTube yet, but I'm planning on adding many more videos. You can find my channel here.

Hi scrapbookers! I wanted to show you some of my new favorite stamp sets! These stamp sets are the new Stanley stamp sets from Elle's Studio. There is two coordinating sets, one solid and one outline. And they are so fun!

Since it's been crazy hot in Phoenix, I haven't been working on my garden. I thought I'd make this fun layout to feel inspired to keep at the gardening. I made a list by stamping the types of plants I want to add to my garden.

I'll admit, it was a bit time consuming, but I love how it turned out. To make it, I started by cutting 9 3x3 inch squares. Then, I just pick a plant and a matching color, stamped it out with the solid Stanley stamps, cleaned the stamp, and started with the next one. I repeated it until the whole thing was full.

June 14, 2017

Hey! I'm so excited to be starting a new series call Recommenation Wednesday. I'm always finding cool new apps, books, and other fun items that I want to share with you. Every Wednesday, I'll be sharing a new recommendation of a product that I like and use for you to try.

This week, I wanted to tell you about the Qapital app. It's an app that helps you save money by setting aside money based on different rules that you set. It's really easy to set up and has a variety of saving options. My favorites are the round up rule and the set and forget rule. Round up rule rounds up all your purchases to the next $1, $2, or $3. The set and forget rule saves a certain dollar amount on a day of your choice. I have it saving $5 every Sunday to two different savings goals. I'm working on saving towards my upcoming trip to Paris and London and my wedding.

If you want to get started with the app, you can check it out here. It's fun to use and makes saving money really easy. You can read an article I wrote for Capitol's blog here.

June 13, 2017

Happy June scrapbookers! I hope your month is going well so far. I'm excited to tell you that the June Kit from Elle's Studio is available! This great kit and the add-ons can now be found at Elle's Studio shop. Here are some fun projects I made with the June Kit and add-ons.The acrylic pieces this month are so perfect for summer. How cute are those little popsicles! I really want to check off some goals for summer, so I made this cute little summer page.

I recently went to Portland and I'm still thinking about the amazing meal we had at Pok Pok. I wanted to make a page to document the meal as well as some other vacation memories.

What memories are you doing to be capturing this summer? What is your favorite Elle's Studio June add-on?! xo. Laura

June 12, 2017

Time has been flying by! May was a tough month for me and I feel like I'm finally getting caught up. So much happened that I just now realized I never showed you my May kit pages for Elle's Studio. Luckily, the May kit is still available! This kit was so colorful and fun. It definitely helped boost my May. I hope you feel inspired by these pagesWhat special May memories are you documenting? Do you have tips for documenting life when things get tough? I'd love to hear your thoughts! xo. Laura

May 05, 2017

To get my birthday project, Intention25, started, I wanted to begin by focusing on my health. I want to feel good, have more energy, and have more confidence going into the future months. Right now, I feel constantly tired and sore. I have terrible posture. I have an issue in my shoulder that's been bothering me for months and I need to go to the dentist. I've felt drained creatively and feel like I have no time to restore my creativity. The goal of this month is to make those appointments I keep pushing back, make time to restore myself and my creativity, and increase my physical and mental health.

For my project, health is going to include a variety of things like exercise, mental health, eating better, and skin care routines. I've made a list of goals to focus on for the month. I've created daily and week goals to get me to my overall health goal. Here is my list:

My morning routine will include reading or meditating after waking up instead of scrolling, using dry body brush, and switching to better quality beauty products. My night routine will include washing my face with my new brush, taking vitamins, going to bed earlier and reading with dim lighting.

In addition to the daily items, I want to visit all the doctors I need to see. I've had a difficult tooth problem for about 15 years that just doesn't seem to get better, so I need to see the dentist. I've had a pain in my shoulder that is affecting my posture and preventing me from exercising my arms, so that needs to be fixed. And I had foot surgery seven years ago that has affected the way I walk and makes running painful. Luckily, I think the last issue can be fixed with physical therapy and exercise tips. All of these issues are preventing me from exercising regularly or making me feel less confident about myself. This month is about getting these things done!

These are all my goals. However, May has had a rough start for me, so I know that life can happen and goals get forgotten. I'm going to try to get into these better, healthier routines, but I'm not going to push myself too hard. These might get adapted and changed along the way.

I will share progress on Instagram using the hashtag #intention25. At the end of the month, I will share my results, let you know what worked and what didn't. I'll share what I'll continue doing throughout the year. Also, I'll share a list of resources I found helpful, like great fitness blogs and YouTube videos.

If you have any fitness blog or YouTube video recommendations, let me know in the comments! I'm also listing to podcasts and reading motivating books, so if you have any favorites share them in the comments! Thanks for your support on this project. xo. Laura

April 26, 2017

Hey scrapbookers! I'm so excited to show you my pages I made using the April Kit from Elle's Studio! Like always, this monthly kit is filled with cute journaling cards and awesome add-ons. I had just gone to Disneyland, so I was able to create some really fun pages. I used a lot of teal and light pink tones in these pages. The April Kit had many items in these colors and the add-ons coordinated perfectly!

Here is my first layout. I started by finding teal, white, and black journaling cards. I really like some of the papers from the Live Laugh Love 6x6 paper, so I cut down a few of those. I made the title card by using a 6x6 paper (cut down to 4x6), a card from the April Kit (cut down to just the teal), an embellishment from the April Kit, black alphabet stickers, and a few enamel dots. I thought the enamel dots worked perfectly for making Mickeys! As always, I used a date stamp to record the day.

For the middle pocket, I stamped the date using the sights and sounds stamp. Then, I added some of the wood confetti. Filling pockets with confetti is one of my favorite techniques!

This next page is one of my favorites! I love how it turned out and it's documenting one of my most precious memories! For this layout, I used a 3x3 square pocket page. I cut down 6x6 paper from the Live Laugh Love collection and cards from the April Kit. I used my old type writer to journal on a few of the cards and embellishments from the April Kit to add details to the photos. I loved using the pink puffy alphabet stickers in this layout. They added journaling and a great pop of color to the page.

One of my favorite things about this page is the pocket with the "real life" stamp. I created the circle by stamping with the Live Laugh Love stamp and cutting out the circle. I didn't have any raised glue dots, so I used a few pieces of the wood confetti to raise up the stamped circle. I just used a tape roller to adhere the confetti to the paper and the circle to the confetti.

These products were so fun to work with. I love how colorful and cheery all the Elle's Studio's April products are. What will you be documenting with the April Kit? What add-on product is your favorite? xo. Laura